A Santa Monica synagogue publicly celebrated the third night of Hanukkah after a recent case of vandalism. Rick Montanez reports for the NBC4 News at 6 on Monday, Dec. 26, 2016.
A Santa Monica synagogue was vandalized just hours after the congregation celebrated the start of Hanukkah.
The vandals appeared to have struck Living Torah Center Chabad Saturday night or Sunday morning, Assistant Rabbi Dovid Tenenbaum said. The front window was smeared with rice and feces, he added.
A menorah was displayed in the window of the building on Wilshire Boulevard at the time of the vandalism, Tenenbaum said.
"This seems kind of intentional," Tenenbaum told the Los Angeles Times. "With a religious artifact in the window, we have to assume so."
No arrests were reported.
The synagogue has been targeted before, including earlier this year when a man at the syangogue shouted "Heil, Hitler" before running off.
Last year, someone left a letter in the building's mailbox that included a swastika and graffiti was found on a hut built for the Jewish festival of Sukkot.
